Son Learns His Father Died From Instagram During Nottingham Attacks
Son Learns His Father Died From Instagram During Nottingham Attacks
In a public inquiry, the family learns Ian Coates's death via an Instagram message as authorities detail the 13 June 2023 Nottingham attack sequence.
On 13 June 2023, a deadly sequence of attacks shook Nottingham, ending with the death of 65-year-old Ian Coates. Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020, killed Coates after earlier stabbing university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar in the city’s early hours. Coates was struck down after Calocane took Coates’s van and used it to hit others in the city centre.
The day’s chaos led to a long, tense night as police and emergency services responded and locked down parts of the city. Authorities would later reveal that Coates’s son learned of his father’s death not through a formal notification, but via an Instagram message from a family friend. The message arrived during the police operation, while James and Lee Coates, the son’s, were awaiting formal confirmation after calls to police for answers.
The Nottingham Inquiry, convened to examine the events and the aftermath, heard from family members and others about how information was shared. The public hearing is taking place at Mary Ward House in London and is chaired by retired senior judge Deborah Taylor KC. As the investigation unfolds, questions remain about the communications between police and the bereaved families and what could be done to prevent such delays in the future.
James Coates described learning that someone had been killed on Magdala Road, a detail tied to the broader events of the night. The inquiry continues to piece together the sequence of actions, the response from authorities, and what lessons can be drawn to improve future handling of similar crises.
